In 2016, Oregon became the first state to adopt and implement an Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) system. Now, twenty-two states, plus Washington D.C., have such systems in place. Early research on the impacts of this innovation has shown an increase in the number of people registered, and greater diversity among the registrants.  Now, a researcher using Oregon voter data has identified an unintended consequence of Automatic Voter Registration: a steep drop in party registration. These results have been published in the journal Electoral Studies ...

PRESS RELEASE: PRINCESS MÁXIMA CENTER FOR PEDIATRIC ONCOLOGY EMBARGO: WEDNESDAY 3 MAY 2023 AT 10:00AM BST (11:00AM CEST) Scientists of the Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology and Hubrecht Institute in the Netherlands have revealed new scientific insights into the features of fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC), a rare type of childhood liver cancer. Their findings, published today in Nature Communications, may help in developing new drug therapies in the future. Mini organs and the ‘molecular scissor’ system CRISPR-Cas9, allowed the researchers to better understand tumor biology and biological ...

Short-terms clinical trials have demonstrated the health benefits of low-carbohydrate diets (LCDs) and low-fat diets (LFDs) for weight loss and heart protection. Now a study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine looks at the effects of these diets on mortality in middle-aged and older adults. In the study of 371,159 individuals aged 50 to 71 years, 165,698 deaths occurred over a median follow-up of 23.5 years. A healthy LFD—characterized by low intake of saturated fat and high intakes of plant protein and high-quality carbohydrates—was related to fewer deaths from all causes, from cardiovascular diseases, and from cancers. In ...

The American mink Neogale vison is an invasive species in Europe introduced for fur farming in the 1920s and later established in the wild after escapes and illegal releases. As a feral species, it threatens native species and biodiversity, and poses a risk for boosting disease circulation, including mink-related strains of COVID-19. New research published in Mammal Review provides information on the presence of the species in Europe over the past 15 years. The study, which was conducted by an international team of scientists, compiled a diverse set of data resources covering 32 nations. The work uncovers a progressive spread of the American mink in most ...

New research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found a link between regular use of the internet and a lower risk of dementia. For the study, investigators followed 18,154 dementia-free adults aged 50 to 64.9 years for a median of 7.9 years and a maximum of 17.1 years. During follow-up, 4.68% of participants were diagnosed with dementia. Regular internet usage was associated with approximately half the risk of dementia compared with non-regular usage. This link was found regardless of educational attainment, race-ethnicity, sex, and generation. “Online engagement may help to develop and maintain cognitive reserve, which ...

New research published in Pediatric Investigation provides evidence that face masks reduce the release of exhaled particles when used by school-aged children. For the study, 23 healthy children were asked to perform activities that ranged in intensity (breathe quietly, speak, sing, cough, and sneeze) while wearing no mask, a cloth mask, or a surgical mask. The production of exhaled particles that were 5 μm or smaller, which is the dominant mode of transmission of many respiratory viruses, increased with coughing and sneezing. Face masks—especially surgical face masks—effectively reduced the release of ...

Glucocorticoid therapy is widely used during pregnancies at risk of premature delivery to promote fetal lung maturation. While it is an effective treatment, it can also trigger heart and blood vessel problems. New research published in The FASEB Journal uncovers the mechanisms behind the cardiovascular-related effects of the most commonly used glucocorticoids, Dexamethasone (Dex) and Betamethasone (Beta). When investigators treated chicken embryos with these different glucocorticoids, they found that both caused growth restriction, with Beta being more severe. At the level ...

Cigarette filters are the world’s most common form of litter. Researchers from the University of Gothenburg can now show that the filters leak thousands of toxins and plastic fibres that are toxic to aquatic larvae. The researchers are therefore calling for these filters to be completely banned. On the footpath, at the bus stop, in the park and on the beach. You can hardly avoid seeing cigarette butts in the streetscape. And these butts aren’t just butt-ugly to behold – they’re also really bad for the environment. A research ...

The accepted clinical practice of using beta blockers over the long term to curb the risk of further heart attacks or death doesn’t seem to be warranted in patients who don’t have heart failure, suggests a large study published in the journal Heart. The researchers found no difference in these risks between patients taking beta blockers  more than a year after their heart attack and those who weren’t on these drugs. Beta blockers are a class of drugs that are predominantly used to manage abnormal heart rhythms, ...

Long-term sufferers of chronic back pain experienced dramatic reductions in pain and related disability that remained at their one-year follow-up after taking part in a new treatment tested by Curtin-Macquarie-Monash University research. Published today in the leading medical journal The Lancet, the research found large clinically significant improvements in the intensity of pain and pain-related disability among almost 500 people who had been seeking help for their pain for an average of four years before trialling the new treatment. The treatment, which delivered a healthcare and work productivity saving of more than $5000 per person, took a whole-person approach ...

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE EMBARGOED UNTIL: 01:00 BST / LONDON TIME WEDNESDAY 3 MAY 2023 Paper available at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GNT9-oVOFTREzjGTSGMK7nIUvlYR61PE?usp=sharing Dogs may be at risk from high levels of lead from shotgun pellets in raw pheasant dog food, study finds Researchers tested samples of raw pheasant dog food and discovered that the majority contained high levels of lead that could put dogs’ health at risk if they eat it frequently. ...

Some people see moss growing in their gardens as a problem, but what they may not realise is this ancient ancestor of all plants is bringing lots of benefits to our green spaces, such as protecting against erosion. Now a massive global study led by UNSW Sydney has found mosses are not just good for the garden, but are just as vital for the health of the entire planet when they grow on topsoil. Not only do they lay the foundations for plants to flourish in ecosystems around the world, they may play an important role mitigating against climate change by capturing ...

Hongkui Zeng, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Director of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, a division of the Allen Institute, was today elected to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences for her work to understand the cells and connections in the mammalian brain, and leading the development of tools and openly available data resources that accelerate brain research worldwide. “I am deeply honored to become a member of the National Academy of Sciences, joining more than 3,000 brilliant scientists around the country and the world,” said Zeng. “I feel incredibly fortunate to work at the Allen Institute alongside ...

People diagnosed with dementia are more likely to self-harm within the first six to 12 months after initial diagnosis, highlighting the need for health services to offer more follow-up support in this crucial period. In what is believed to be the largest study of its kind, researchers with expertise in medicine, psychiatry and psychology at UNSW Sydney looked at NSW hospital data captured for more than 180,000 people admitted to hospital between 2001 and 2015. The researchers analysed statistics relating to two cohorts of patients admitted to hospital: 154,811 people recorded as having dementia, and ...

When we think of boxing, it’s understandable many of us wouldn’t associate it with being ‘good’ for our brains.   However, new Edith Cowan University (ECU) research undertaken in partnership with The Perron Institute and boxer Rai Fazio has shown the sport — without an opponent — could be a valuable way for people suffering Parkinson’s Disease (PD) to improve their quality of life.   Also collaborating with Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and the University of Western Australia, ECU researchers had 10 people with early-stage PD perform three one-hour boxing sessions per week, over 15 weeks.   Rather ...

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) triumphed at the 48th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva, winning a total of 19 awards, including two special grand prizes Invention & Innovation CAI Award (China Delegation), and Prize of the Delegation of Malaysia. The results were announced yesterday (April 28). Research teams from Faculty of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Science, LKS Faculty of Medicine, and two HKU Inno Laboratories, established under the Hong Kong Government's InnoHK programme, garnered two special grand prizes, one Gold Medal with the Congratulations of the Jury, six Gold Medals, six Silver Medals ...

Cartilage is a tissue that protects bones by providing shock absorption and facilitates smooth joint movement. Unfortunately, due to its limited intrinsic healing capacity, stem cell transplantation is a promising therapeutic approach to address cartilage inflammation and damage, as well as to promote cartilage regeneration. However, a major limitation of this technique is the rapid disappearance of transplanted stem cells from the smooth cartilage surface and fluidic environment around cartilage, resulting in less effective treatment outcomes. Recently, a  joint team of researchers from POSTECH, Dongguk University Medical Center, and Nature Gluetech in Korea ...

How has online sleuthing successfully replaced wanted posters? Researchers within the Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science answered this question by studying the crowdsourced online investigation that followed the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. “These online communities can provide real value, if they’re organized in the right way,” said Kurt Luther,  associate professor of computer science and history. “These aren’t just digital witch hunts now that make false identifications. They can really make solid contributions to ongoing investigations by getting images in front of people, which ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (May 3, 2023) — Concerns continue to grow about the impact social media use has on the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents. According to a new national survey conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of The On Our Sleeves Movement For Children’s Mental Health, half (50%) of parents of children younger than 18 feel their child(ren)’s mental health has suffered during the past 12 months because of social media use.  To best understand how social media is impacting their children’s mental health, On Our Sleeves encourages parents and caregivers to sit down and have ...

In a world hungry for clean energy, engineers have created a new material that converts the simple mechanical vibrations all around us into electricity to power sensors in everything from pacemakers to spacecraft.  The first of its kind and the product of a decade of work by researchers at the University of Waterloo and the University of Toronto, the novel generating system is compact, reliable, low-cost and very, very green. “Our breakthrough will have a significant social and economic impact by reducing our reliance on non-renewable power sources,” said Asif Khan, a ...

Dr. Zhijian “Z.J.” Pei and his intercollegiate team recently received the Future Manufacturing Research Grant from the National Science Foundation’s Future Manufacturing program, which funds researchers to develop new manufacturing capability that does not exist today. The focus of this research grant is to substitute products made from petroleum-based plastics or natural wood with biomass. “Our idea is to use living matter, including fungi, algae, bacteria, plus agriculturally derived biomass and use 3D printing to make products,” said Pei, professor in the Wm Michael Barnes ’64 ...

“A biomarker or set of biomarkers to inform on the individual progression risk would be beneficial to the patient and cost-effective for the healthcare system." BUFFALO, NY- May 2, 2023 – A new research perspective was published in Oncotarget's Volume 14 on April 24, 2023, entitled, “Crossroads: the role of biomarkers in the management of lumps in the breast.” Here, Dr. Georg F. Weber from the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center discusses a long-standing issue in women’s health: ...

Electroencephalography (EEG) is an indispensable tool used by clinicians to diagnose neurological diseases and by researchers to study and discover brain circuit mechanisms that support sensory, mnemonic, and cognitive processing. A new software - Openseize - created by Dr. Matthew Caudill, an investigator at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital and assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine, can now analyze massive amounts of one-dimensional digital ...

WASHINGTON, DC – Jefferson Sciences Associates (JSA) has announced the award of $558,060 through its JSA Initiatives Fund Program. The program supports projects by staff and scientific users at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The FY23 program awards leveraged over $800,000 in matching funds, and taken together, the program and matching awards total over $1.3 million. Project awards include scientific meeting support, education and career development, and outreach activities, ...

Sophisticated systems for the detection of biomarkers — molecules such as DNA or proteins that indicate the presence of a disease — are crucial for real-time diagnostic and disease-monitoring devices. Holger Schmidt, distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering at UC Santa Cruz, and his group have long been focused on developing unique, highly sensitive devices called optofluidic chips to detect biomarkers.   Schmidt’s graduate student Vahid Ganjalizadeh led an effort to use machine learning to enhance ...